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^ THE SOLDIERS OF KANSAS. 



The Sixth Kansas Cavalry and 
its Commander. 



AN ADDRESS BY 

CHARLES E. CORY. 



Reprinted from Collections Kansas Historical Society, Vol. XI, 1909-'10. 



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^^ 



Nothing but Flags, 

COMRADES! Salute the battle-torn colors in memory of those wha 
fought and died with them that the nation might live ! 

' ' Nothing but flags ! ' ' but simple flags ! 

Tattered and torn, and hanging in rags ; 

And we walk before them in careless tread, 

Nor think of the hosts of the mighty dead 

Who have marched beneath in the days gone b; , 
With a burning cheek and a kindling eye, 
And have bathed these folds with their life's young tide. 
And in dying were blest, and with blessings .lied! 

" Nothing but flags ! " Yet methinks at night 
They tell each other their tales of fright ! 
Dim specters come ; and their arms entwine 
'Round each standard torn, as they stand in line. 

As the word is given, they charge ! they form ! 

And these corridors ring with the battle storm ! 

And once again, through the smoke and strife. 

These colors lead on for the nation's life ! 

" Nothing but flags ! " Yet they 're bathed in tears ; 

They tell of triumph ; of hopes and fears ; 

Of a mother's prayers for a boy away; 

Of a serpent crushed ; of the coming day ! / 

Silent they speak ; and the tears will start, ^ 

As we stand beneath them with throbbing heart, 
And we think of those who are ne'er forgot! ^ 
Their flags come home ; why come they not 1 

" Nothing but flags ! " Yet we hold our breath,. 
And gaze with awe at these types of death ! 
They are nothing but flags ; yet the thought will come : 
The heart must pray, though the lips be dumb ! 

They are sacred and pure ! We can see no stain 
On these dear loved flags come home again ! 
Baptized in blood, our purest, best ; 
Tattered and torn, they are now at rest ! 

—Anon. 

[Compiled by B. B. Smythe. company K, Ninth Michigan infantry, and troop A, First United 
States cavalry (dragoons), and dedicated with the love of a private soldier to the regimental 
flags of the Kansas volunteer soldiers, now exhibited in a special steel case in the rooms of the 
Kansas State Historical Society.] 



D. of D. 

JAN 3 1918 



The Sixth Kansas Cavalry and 
its Commander. 

An address by Charles E. Cory.' of Fort Scott, before the Kansas State Historical Society, 
at its Thirty-third annual meeting. December 1, 1908. 

THE Western cavalry in the war of the Rebellion had a peculiar duty. 
The distances were great. The commands were not situated as Long- 
street's and Lee's and Meade's and McClellan's and Hooker's and Grant's 
armies were. The military forces in the West, on both sides, were com- 
paratively small bodies. Between the points of operation would be a day's 
march, or two days' march, instead of an hour's march or possibly two hours' 
march, as it was in the East. The cavalry was of immensely more impor- 
tance in the West than in the East, although of great importance there. If 
a blow was to be struck on the James or Shenandoah it could be done in a 
surprisingly short time-surprisingly in more ways than one. Stonewall 
Jackson or Sheridan might be reported in bivouac at sundown, and might 
strike a vicious blow at dawn. In the West, however, it might take two, 
or three, or five days' riding. They were away apart. The mortality in the 
West was greater in proportion to the number engaged, though the total 
mortality was much less. The percentage of mortality in Kansas regiments 
in battle was greater than that of any other state, although the actual num- 
ber of deaths was smaller. For instance, there were more men killed in 
three hours at each of the battles of Chickamauga, Cold Harbor, Fredericks- 
burg and Gettysburg than were killed in any battle, however long, on any 
field west of the Mississippi. There were more men killed at Chickamauga 
in three hours than were killed during the whole Spanish- American and 
Philippine wars. The number of men engaged in those Eastern battles was 
greater. The fight itself was fiercer. The battle field casualties were 

greater. 

My statement does not belittle the services of the army in the West, 
nor does it belittle the glory that attaches to our soldiers in Cuba and the 
Philippines. Those boys that went to the later war did their duty. They 
did all that was asked of them, and did it with alacrity, faithfulness and 
bravery. They did it well; but there was not so much to do. Our young 
men in the Philippines were not fighting with fighters. They were fighting 
with brigands and cutthroats, and cutthroats are always cowards. They 
had no such contests as occurred, for instance, at Fredericksburg, where 
after the battle a man might walk three-quarters of a mile and stand on a 
soldier's body at every step. Nor were they fighting with such men as 
Meade met at Gettysburg, where Pickett's Virginians and Carolinians went 
across the open plains i n the face of 35,000 infantry and a thousand cannon, 

Note l.-See sketch of Charles Estabrook Cory, page 229. volume 7. Kansas Historical 
Collections and a paper written by him. entitled Slavery m Kansas.' In volume s he also had 
a Daner" The Osage Ceded Lands." page 187. Mr. Cory obtained the facts in this paper rela- 
tive ?o the life and service of Colonel Jewell from his family, and from conversations with private 
soldiers and others who served under him. 

(3) 



4 Kansas State Histoncal Society. 

and were slashed down like timber before the cyclone— and then reformed 
and came on again! Nerve near omnipotent! They were not against a force 
like Thomas met at Chickamauga, who stood and fought until they were 
decimated. These last men I have mentioned were fighting their brothers, 
of the same blood, while the men in the Spanish and Philippine wars were 
against men who were not fighters. The enemy believed in the wisdom of 
the adage that "he who fights and runs away shall live to fight another 
day." 

The men in the West in the Civil War did not diflPer in the same way 
from the men in the East. The difference in the Civil War was not in the 
kind of people, but only in the conditions surrounding them. The Western 
forces were smaller. The distances were greater. The men were just as 
combative, just as brave, had the same virile strength and nerve on each 
side, but the blood letting was less because the opportunity was less. The 
Eastern armies were close together. In the West the bands of fighters 
were far apart. 

Let me illustrate: Suppose Longsti'eet or Jackson in Virginia had taken 
a fancy to strike Boston. Suppose Sheridan had taken a fancy to strike 
Charleston. That would be about on a par with Gen. Sterling Price's swift 
jump from the Indian Territory to hit Colonel Mulligan at Lexington, Mo. 
The Eastern armies could not dream of such a thing, but in the West such 
dashes were common. 

In such conditions as this it was natural that the cavalry should be the 
most useful branch of the army. It could hit a sudden blow at a distance, 
where the infantry would be powerless, although both equally willing and 
equally ready. The Sixth Kansas cavalry was probably better constituted 
than any other Western cavalry regiment to perform this kind of duty. Its 
members were to the manor born. They were on their own ground. They 
were accustomed to frontier life. They knew what cowardice on the battle 
field meant, for in a fratricidal war they had a keener perception of the 
dangers of shirking on the field than did the Eastern men, although they 
were not a bit more ready to fight. The Eastern soldier, north or south, 
was from a community all Union or all Confederate. In the West it waa 
not so. 

The surroundings made the men to meet the case— manufactured them. 
Missouri for instance furnished very many regiments in the Confederate 
army; and yet, from the same neighborhoods where those regiments were 
raised there were also raised organizations of Union soldiers. A great 
number of the members of the Sixth Kansas cavalry were from Missouri, 
and went back to Missouri when the regiment was mustered out. They are 
there now— and have forgotten. The other side has too. In a kindly spirit 
they strive to forget. They are brothers. In all my extended acquaint- 
ance with the soldiery of the '60's, I know of none who now have hate in 
their bosoms. The haters now were teamsters or coffee-coolers then. 

Soldiers that are raised from such a community as I have described, 
where the people are all intelligent and brave, with some of the people on 
one side of the fighting line and some on the other, are not likely to draw 
very fine distinctions about the articles of war. It has been told that the 
bitterest quarrel is a church quarrel. It is not true. The bitterest of all is 
a family quarrel— brother against brother, cousin against cousin. The 



The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 5 

problems are home to them. They are likely to pay more heed to routing 
or disabling the enemy than they are to the matter of observing what is 
regarded as correct among soldiers. 

These men were not ruffians. I have the pleasure of knowing a hundred 
of them. They were simply soldiers in a very rough time and in rough sur- 
roundings. An instance: Years ago I knew private Charles H. Hosley, of 
the Sixth, one of the sunniest-hearted and kindliest souls I ever met. He 
was a man who loved all humanity. If there ever was a real Christian gen- 
tleman he was one. Yet he was in the fiendish scrap at Cane Hill which I 
shall describe after a while, and did his part. We who live "safe at home, 
secure and warm," must not judge these people by our measure. 

The punishment of the Western men was as much in the almost insuffer- 
able hardships that they underwent in the way of lack of clothing, lack of 
food, hard riding, hard marching, as it was in the actual work on the battle 
field. In all of these matters the cavalry very naturally bore the brunt. 
It is to the credit of the cavalry regiments in the far West that they always 
came up to the measure of their duty. They despised a leader with white 
blood as much as they hated a martinet or a bully. A really brave and com- 
petent general at Wilson Creek lost his life because he did n't know his men 
on this last point. He did not know them. They killed him. 

THE LEADER. 

A unique character was Lieut. Col. Lewis R. Jewell. He inherited from 
his life on the ancestral farm in Massachusetts the will and nerve that have 
helped so much to build up the West and the Middle West. Yet he was not 
a Yankee. Though his ancestors had been in Massachusetts from a time 
shortly after the Mayflower came, he himself took on the more rugged char- 
acter of the West. An old portrait now in my office shows him with an 
incisely chiseled Yankee face. But his mental make-up was distinctively of 
the West. The old Jewell home was at Marlboro, Middlesex county, where 
the colonel himself was born. While a boy he had dreams and visions of a new 
world toward the setting sun. He was ambitious, and had an itching to be- 
come a part of it. So, with the consent of his parents, he fared westward, 
alone in the tiresome journey over the hills, and joined his uncle in Ohio. 
There, enjoying the benefits of good ordinary country schools and a devout 
■Christian home life, he at the same time ran against the struggles which 
make the average Western man so nervy in business and so fearless in war. 

When in 1843 he married Susan Hutchinson, at Warren, Ohio, and had 
bought a little wagon load of household furniture, he had just four shillings 
left to begin home building. Before that time he had spent some years as 
a general sales agent for a large manufacturing concern; had for a short 
time engaged in mercantile business; had built, owned, and for a short time 
ran a steamboat on the Ohio and Mississippi. 

I never saw him. He was a splendid, large, broad-shouldered, deep- 
chested man considerably over six feet high, of massive build, and, in the 
words of Patrick Gorman, one of his men, "with a voice clear down to his 
boots." On the word of Mrs. Jane H. Haynes, the widow of one of his 
captains, "He was a man who by his looks, conduct and action would com- 
mand respect anywhere. ' ' When in action he used that voice with precision, 
iorce and elegance, but not with strict regard to the decalogue. 

The call of the gold mines came to him in 1849. He went. The overland 






6 Kansas State Historical Society. 

journey with a wagon train, the toilsomeness and the cruel hardships of it, 
have been described by others so many times that the story is scarcely in- 
teresting. 

Shortly afterward he left California and recrossed the mountains, and 
settled on a farm in the northeast corner of Crawford county, Kansas, in 
1856, close to where Arcadia stands. 

When the troubles on the border began, of- course a man of his make-up 
was restless. He could not remain quietly at home when his neighbors 
were going to the front. A company was raised in his neighborhood, nearly 
all of the members being people who had just settled on raw prairie farms 
and were trying to make homes of them. On the formation of the company 
the soldiers very naturally looked for the most promising leader. Just as 
naturally their selection fell on Jewell. The Home Guards ^ were first or- 
ganized at Fort Scott with three companies of infantry. When it was de- 
cided to enlarge the organization, with his little band Captain Jewell marched 
into Fort Scott and joined the regiment as Company D. 

The Fort Scott Home Guards were a great organization. They were 
soldiers on their own motion. They guarded the border. They forced quiet 
where lawlessness had been. Wherever house-burnings or depredations oc- 
curred, a detachment of the Home Guards came right quickly. They by 
arms enforced peace. 

September 9, 1861, the Home Guards were disbanded, and the Sixth 
Kansas cavalry ^ was organized from the three companies of the Guards and 
five new companies. Captain Jewell had shown himself worthy, and was 
elected and commissioned lieutenant colonel. He held his commission until 
his death. He was in actual command nearly all the time, though nominally 
Wm. R. Judson was colonel of the regiment. Judson was not a fighter, and 
it is probable that his selection as colonel was more on account of his promi- 
nence politically than on account of anything he had ever done or was ex- 
pected to do as a soldier. 

THE SIXTH KANSAS CAVALRY. 

The Sixth Kansas cavalry was a somewhat peculiar organization; not 
entirely unique for a Western regiment, but diflPerent from most regiments 
of the United States army. For instance, a good proportion of the men 
rode their own horses. A part of the time half of them wore citizen's 
clothing. They had no other, and could get no other. They were not only 
most remarkable fighters, but they were also the finest foragers that ever 
went to war since the days of vandals. That is saying a good deal, because 
the Western armies in the Civil War on both sides scarcely needed a com- 
missary train, and the words "conscience" and "property rights" were 
blotted out of their dictionary. In the graphic words of a soldier who 
talked to me the other day, not about the Sixth Kansas cavalry, however, 
"we had no commissary, and we took no prisoners." 

The situation in which the Sixth Kansas was thrown was largely influen- 
tial in making up the character of its service, and the character of its men 
as soldiers. The border of Missouri, Kansas, Indian Territory and Arkan- 

NoTE 2.— This organization was known as the "Fort Scott Home Guards," also as "William 
R Judson's Frontier Battalion." — List of Synonyms of Orgranizations in the Volunteer Service 
of the United States during the years 1861. '62, '63, '64, and '65. compiled by John T. Fallon, 
Washington. 1885, pp. 32, 33. 

Note 3.— "Military History of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry," in Official Military History of 
Kansas Regiments. Leavenworth, W. S. Burke, 1870, p. 119. 



The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 7 

sas, from Kansas City to Fcrt Gibson, say 300 to 350 miles, was a seething, 
hissing caldron. Noble L. Prentis called this region "Battle Corners. "■» 
He was tasteful in the selection of the word. 

What was supposed to be the flower of the army, on both sides, was in 
the East. They did more bloody fighting, but here was the real punish- 
ment. The Sixth was a cavalry regiment. Its companies could move. 
They could go to a place. Two or three would be sent in one direction, a 
couple of companies in another direction, and possibly another portion in 
still another direction, to quiet local disturbances. They were doing con- 
tinuous field police duty. 

Its soldiers were what my friend Joe Ausman calls "roughnecks." My 
guess is that not half a dozen men in the regiment would at that time have 
known what a nightshirt was for if they had seen one. But they could live 
like princes on the lee side of a haystack on a winter night, or they could 
ride all night, over all sorts of roads, or no roads at all, and go into a skir- 
mish in the morning like a bridegroom goes to his wedding. The hard 
frontier life had made them men of iron. They were not much to look at. 
They did not wear collars and cuffs and polished shoes at inspection, but 
they did business. 

Then, their physical endurance ! Nearly every one of the Sixth had rid- 
den in prairie schooners or had tramped from Indiana or Illinois, or other 
Middle West states, and were accustomed to sleeping on the ground with 
nothing over them but a horse blanket and the sky, possibly the blanket 
omitted. They were ready for anything. They could hit the eye of a 
squirrel in the top of a tree. They had been trained on occasion to get 
their meat from the woods along the streams. They were hardy, and could 
stand any sort of punishment on a forced march. They could sleep in the 
saddle. That was the kind of people that made up the Sixth. The Sixth 
Kansas cavalry was up to the best of them. The people down Fort 
Scott way are proud to claim the Sixth as the Fort Scott regiment. It 
was really organized there, but the different parts came from a wide 
territory. The colonel, lieutenant colonel, major and surgeon were all Fort 
Scott people, but the companies came from places wide apart, some from 
as far west as Junction City. 

THE BURNING OF FORT SCOTT — WHICH DID N'T HAPPEN. 

A zealot is not so by education. He is born that way. If Luther, or 
Calvin, or Cromwell, or Sam Adams, or John Brown had]not taken the par- 
ticular trend they did they would still have been] cranks, and'iwould have 
moved the world on some other issue. James H. Lane— "Old Jim Lane," 
as his worshipers loved to call him— was a zealot. He had been a soldier in 
the Mexican war. He was a fighter. He had been a Democratic congress- 
man from Indiana, but, coming early to Kansas, he was wise enough to 
discover that the inevitable ending of the border troubles would be that 
Kansas would be a free state. He promptly changed his political garments 
and became an ardent free-state man and later a Republican. ^ A new con- 

NOTE 4.— "Battle Corners" forms the first chapter of Noble L. Prentis's book, Kansas Mis- 
cellanies, published at Topeka in 1889. 

Note 5. — "No such distinction as 'Democrat' and 'Republican' were known in the early- 
territorial days of trouble. An attempt to organize a National Democratic party, by such men 
as C. W. Babcock. Marcus J. Parrott, James H. Lane, James S. Emery. H. Miles Moore, and 
others of like prominence [in 1855] was denounced by the first territorial legislature as a 
* measure fraught with more danger to the interest of the Proslavery party and to the Union 



8 Kansas State Historical Society. 

vert, if he is a born zealot, always goes to the extreme limit, and Lane did 
that. He took on an extreme hatred for anybody that even thought of 
making Kansas a slave state, although he himself had voted in Congress to 
repeal the Missouri compromise, the only shadowy promise Kansas had had 
of becoming a free state. He cared very little about methods. Webb 
Wilder says he was king in Kansas ; and it was true. He left the United 
States senate, where he was serving as the first senator from Kansas, and 
called himself brigadier general. He got a sort of roving commission'' from 
Washington. By some sort of necromancy he had command in the south- 
eastern corner of the state. 

than any which has yet been agitated,' and they resolved ' that it is the duty of the Proslavery 
party, the Qnion-loving men of Kansas territory, to know but one issue, slavery," and all others 
were held to be 'an ally of abolitionism and disunionism. ' ( Ho. Jour., 1855, p. 3S0.) The attempt 
to organize a National Democratic party was thus squeezed out, and simultaneously we find the 
men named above, and others of like belief and prominence, participating in the Big Springs 
convention. A Democratic meeting at Lawrence warned the Missourians not to come over and 
participate in elections. The Big Springs convention resolved, as against the action of the terri- 
torial legislature, ' that Democrats and Whigs, native and naturalized citizens may freely enter ' 
into its movements ' without any sacrifice of their respective political creeds, but without forcing 
them as a test upon others.' and that ' when those issues may become vital as they are now dor- 
mant, it will be time enough to divide our organization by these tests, the importance of which 
we fully recognize in their appropriate sphere.' ( Proc. Big Springs Convention. S. 6. 1855, p. 
3.) And this is exactly what happened. After squatter sovereignty had settled the slavery 
question the Republican party was organized : and in all the bitterness of the past no man was 
ever heard to say that a Democrat, or Republican, or Whig did so and so. but invariably that a 
Missourian, a border ruffian, proslavery man or a free-state man was responsible."— Extract 
from letter of Sec'y George W. Martin to Gov. George W. Glick. March 8. 1904. 

The following extracts bearing upon politics and parties in Kansas in the '50's are copied 
from a letter of Epaphroditus Ransom, receiver of the Osage land district at Fort Scott, to Lewis 
Cass, United States Secretary of State, dated at Fort Scott, March 2.5, 1858. A copy of the origi- 
nal manuscript, in the Lewis Cass collection of the Michigan Historical Society, was made for 
the Kansas State Historical Society by the secretary, Henry R. Pettengill, in May, 1908. 

"At least three-fourths of the population of this territory are from the free states, and they 
are determined to make Kansas a free state, I think a majority of the free-state men here were 
originally Democrats, National Democrats. They have officiated and acted with Republicans 
here, the great body of them, for the reason that those opposed to that party organized not as a 
' Democratic ' but ' Proslavery ' party. That drives nearly all the Northern Democrats into 
the ranks of our opponents. 

" When I arrived in this territory, in January, 1857, the Democratic party, os such, had never 
been organized within it. A 'Proslavery' party only had been organized in opposition to the 
Antislavery or Republican party. At a convention of the Proslavery party, held soon after my 
arrival, I made great exertion to induce the National Democrats to drop their designation of 
' Proslavery ' and organize as a National Democratic party, upon the basis of the Cincinnati 
platform, and being invited to participate in the proceedings of the convention I addressed that 
body with what ability I possess in favor of such reorganization. After a stormy sitting of 
some days, the measure was adopted." 

Note 6.— The following quotations from official documents are intended to outline the mili- 
tary service of James H. Lane in Kansas, from 1855 to 1864: 

"Headcjuarters Kansas Volunteers, 
September 12, 18.5(i. 
" To Lieutenant Richy: Having confidence in your courage and ability I do appoint you one 
of my aids. You will report yourself for duty without delay.— Lane, Com'g." 
(Manuscript in collections of Historical Society.) 

A free-state military organization was effected at a meeting held in Lawrence November 29, 
1855. Dr. Chas. Robinson was made commander in chief and Col. Jas. H. Lane was placed second 
in command. ( Wilder's Annals. 1886, p. 89.) The above appointment was intended for John 
Ritchie, of "Topeka, lieutenant colonel of the Fifth Kansas cavalry in 1861, and colonel of the 
Second Indian Home Guards, March 28, 1862. 

Headquarters Kansas Militia, 
December 17, 1857. 
[P. B. Plumb.] "Sir— You are hereby notified of your appointment as aid-de-camp to the 
major general under the act entitled 'An act for the organization and regulation of the militia,' 
passed December 16. 1857.-J. H. Lane, Maj. Gen'l." 

(Copied from photograph of the collections of the Kansas State Historical Society, made 
from the original letter to P-. B. Plumb, and presented by him to Geo. W. Martin.) 

"Headquarters Department of Washington, 
Washington, D. C. April 24. 1861. 

" Gen. J. 11. Lane and Maj. C. M. Clay, Washington , D. C: 

" Gentlemen— The Secretary of War desires that the volunteers under command of Gen. J. 
H. Lane and Maj. C. M. Clay should take post at the United States navy yard, for its protection. 



The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 9 

I am therefore directed by Colonel Smith, commanding, to request that you will report with your 
respective commands to the commandant of the navy yard for this service by nine o'clock to- 
night, to remain on duty until daylight. You will report to the commandant of the navy yard for 
the same service on each succeeding night for the periods that your respective commands may 
have been enrolled. 

"I am. sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Theo. Talbot. 

Assistant Adjutant General." 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 1. vol. 51, pt. 1. p. 335.] 

See Kan. Hist. Col., vol. 10, p. 419, for roster, etc.. of the Frontier Guard. 

■• Hon. Secretary of War ; "Executive Mansion. June 20. 1861. 

"My Dear Sir — Since you spoke to me yesterday about Gen. J. H. Lane, of Kansas. I have 
been reflectmg upon the subject, and have concluded that we need the services of such a man 
out there at once ; that we better appoint him a brigadier general of volunteers to-day, and send 
him oft with such authority to raise a force (I think two regiments better than three, but as to 
this I am not particular) as you think will get him into actual work quickest. Tell him when 
he starts to put it through not to be writing or telegraphing back here, but put it through. 

Yours truly, A. Lincoln." 

" His Excellency. A. Lincoln. President : " Washington City. June 20, 1861. 

Sir — I tender and ask the acceptance for service for three years, or during the war, the 
following regiments of troops in Kansas in addition to the three regiments from that state here- 
tofore accepted, viz. : 

"One regiment of infantry, including two companies of cavalry and two companies of artil- 
lery. Col. James Montgomery. One regiment of infantry, including two companies cavalry and 
two companies artillery. Col. William Weer. General Cameron concurs with me in the existing 
necessity for two additional regiments, and will cheerfully make the order on your suggestion. 

Respectfully, J. H. Lane." 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 1, pp. 280, 282.] 

" Gen. James H. Lane: "War Department, June 20, 1861. 

"Dear Sir— This department will accept two regiments for three years, or during the war' 
in addition to the three regiments the department has already agreed to accept from the governor 
of Kansas, to be raised and organized by you in Kansas. Orders will be given to muster the 
same into service immediately on being ready to be so mustered, and on being mustered the 
requisite arms, etc., will be furnished on the requisition of the mustering officer, who is hereby 
authorized to make the same. 

"By order of the President: (Signed ) Simon Cameron, Secretary of War." 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 1, p. 282.] 

The foregoing letter is also printed in the Leavenworth Daily Conservative of June 26, 1861, 
in a communication signed "James H. Lane, Brig. Gen.," and beginning: 

.._, , „. . "Leavenworth, June 25, 1861. 

To the Citizens of Kansas: On the 20th instant I was duly appointed a brigadier general in 
the volunteer force of the United States." 

Following General Lane's letter is a card signed by William Weer, stating that General Lane 
had assigned to him the duty of receiving and organizing troops at Leavenworth or Lawrence. 

"War Department, Washington, June 20, 1861. 

"Sir— You are hereby informed that the President of the United States has appointed you 
brigadier general of the volunteer force raised in conformity with the President's proclamation 
of May 3, 1861, in the service of the United States, to rank as such from the 17th day of May. 1861. 
Should the senate, at their next session, advise and consent thereto, you will be commissioned 
accordingly. 

" Immediately on receipt hereof, please to communicate to this department, through the ad- 
jutant general's office, your acceptance or nonacceptance of said appointment: and. with your 
letter of acceptance, return to the adjutant general of the army the oath, herewith inclosed, 
properly filled up. subscribed, and attested, reporting at the same time your age, residence, when 
appointed, and the state in which you were born. 

"Should you accept, you will at once report by letter for orders to the secretary of war. 
., Simon Cameron, Secretary of War. 

Brigadier General .James H. Lane, United States Velunteers." 

{.Congressional Globe. January 8, 1862, 37th Cong., 2d Sess., p. 223.] 

M. C Meigs, quartermaster general, on June 26. 1861. made an order on Messrs. Haughton, 
Sawyer & Co., Boston, from which the following extract is given : 

"This clothing is for two regiments to be raised and commanded by General Lane of Kansas, 
and must be delivered in time to reach Fort Leavenworth before the 20th July, at which time the 
regiment is to take the field. 

"I inclose General Lane's requisitions, three in number, specifying the articles, and indorsed 
by me for identification." 

[Congressional Globe, January 8, 1862, 37th Cong., 2d Sess.. p. 224.] 



10 Kansas State Histoncal Society. 

"Adjutant General's Office, 

Washington, D. C, July 10. 1861. 
"Detail an officer to muster in General Lane's brigade. The companies will be mustered 
when presented, even thoutrh less than the standard, and will be filled up afterwards. 

"By order George D. Ruggles, Assist. Adj. Gen. 

"Commanding: Officer, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas." 

"Leavenworth City, Kansas. 
"Official copy. L. Thomas, Adjutant General. 

"Adjutant General's Office, July 16, 1861." 

"The above order was given at the request of General Lane. 

L. Thomas, Adj. Gen." 
[Congressional Globe, 87th Cong., 2d Sess., p. 224.] 

"Special Order. " FORT ScoTT, August 27, 1861. 

"Colonel Montgomery: You will report a list of the commanding officers of the companies 
composing the United States reserve corps stationed at this post and the strength of companies 
in said corps. J. H. Lane, Commdg. Kansas Brig. 

"By Abram Cutler. Acting Asst. Adjt. Gen." 

[Mss. in collections Historical Society.] 

"Headquarters. West Point, 
" To Lt. Col. John Ricky [ Ritchie]. "September 17, 1861. 

"Confiiling in your courage, gallantry and skill, I do and by these presents designate you 
colonel of the Fifth Regiment. Kansas brigade, in place of Col. H. P. Johnson, who gallantly fell 
this morning while leading said regiment at the attack on Morristown. You will assume the 
command of said regiment and report to Colonel Montgomery for orders. 

J. H. Lane, Comg. K. B." 

[ Mss. in collections of Historical Society.] 

"Headquarters Kansas Brigade, 

- ^ „ -^ „, Kansas City, October 3, 1861. 

Gen. S. D. Sturgis : 

" General — In answer to your note of this day * I have this to say : That I don't care a fig 
about rank ; I have enough of the glittering tinsel to satisfy me. I am here in obedience to an 
order from Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont to cooperate with you in ferreting out and fighting the 
enemy. Kindly and promptly do I desire to obey that order. My brigade is not here for the pur- 
pose of interfering in any wise with the institution of slavery. They shall not become negro 
thieves, nor shall they be prostituted into negro catchers. The institution of slavery must take 
care of itself. 

" I said in the senate of the United States, and my experience since only demonstrates its 
truth, that in my opinion the institution would perish with the march of the Federal armies. 

"Again I say that the mass of personal property in Missouri, including slaves, is at this mo- 
ment held by the wives and children assisted by the Federal army, while the husband and father 
are actually in arms against the government. In my opinion our policy in this regard should be 
changed. 

'"Confiscation of slaves and other property which can be made useful to the army should 
follow treason as the thunder peal follows the lightning flash. Until this change is made you 
offer premiums for the men to remain away in the army of the enemy. I had a man cowardly 
shot in the woods to-day within sight of our camp by the very men, I have no doubt, whose 
property you are so anxious to protect. 

" I am endeavoring to find what transportation I have to spare, if any, and will report to you 
accordingly. Yours, J. H. Lane, 

Commanding Kansas Brigade." 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 2, vol. 1, p. 771.] 

"Leavenworth City, Kan., Octobers, 1861. 
"His Excellency, A. Lincoln, President of the United State§: 

"Sir— Since my return from Washington to Kansas I have labored earnestly and incessantly, 
as commander of the Kansas brigade, to put down the great insurrection in Missouri. After the 
state authorities here had failed to collect a force worthy of the name. I, by my own individual 
efforts and those of my personal friends, despite the opposition of the governor of this state, 
succeeded in raising and marching against the enemy as gallant and effective an army, in pro- 
portion to its numbers, as ever entered the field. Its operations are a part of the history of the 
country. That brigade to a man are exceedingly desirous of continuing in the service under my 
command, and I am very anxious to gratify its members in that behalf: but as matters are at 
pres nt arranged. I feel compelled to abandon the field. 

" While the Kansas brigade was being organized. Gov. Charles Robinson exerted his utmost 
endea\^or to prevent the enlistment of men. Since its organization he has constantly, in season 
and out of season, villified myself, and abused the men under my command as marauders and 
thieves For the purpose of gratifying his malice against me, he has conspired with Captain 
Prince, the commandant at Fort Leavenworth, to dissolve the brigade, and Captain Prince has 
apparently heartily espoused the cause in that direction. The latter-named person, in his ofliicial 
capacity, has refused to recognize my authority as commander, and wholly declined to respond 
to my lawful requisitions upon him for articles and supplies necessary to the efficiency and com- 
fort of the brigade. 

"There being no hope of improvement in this condition of things so long as I am in my 
present position, in order that I may with my brigade remain in the field, and the government be 
sustained in this region, and Kansas be protected from invasion from Missouri, I earnestly re- 
quest and recommend the establishment of a new military department, to be composed of Kansas, 

* Not found. 



TliG Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 11 

the Indian country, and so much of Arkansas and the territories as may be thought advisable to 
include therein. After much consideration, and consultation with influential and intelligent 
gentlemen hereabout, I am decidedly of opinion that this at least should be done, and that the 
commandant thereof should have under him at least 10,000 troops. 

"If this can be done, and I can have the command of the department. I v^Wl cheerfully accept 
it, resign my seat in the senate, and devote all my thoughts and energies to the prosecution of 
the -war. But if nothing can be done to remedy the evils complained of, I will, as above inti- 
mated, be compelled to leave my command, quit the field, and most reluctantly become an idle 
spectator of the great struggle, and witness, I have no doubt, the devastation of my adopted 
state and the destruction of its people. Yours truly, J.H.Lane." 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 1, vol. 1, p. 529.] 

" War Department, The Adjutant General's Office, 
Washington, March 26, 1910. 

"Mr. George W. Martin, Secretary Kansas S!tate Historical Society, Topeka, Kan.: 

"Nothing has been found of record in this office to show that James H. Lane was commis- 
sioned brigadier general in June, 1861, or at any time in that year prior to December. 

"The records show that the nomination of James H. Lane to be brigadier general of volun- 
teers was sent to and confirmed by the United States Senate on December 18, 1861 ; that a com- 
mission as of that grade was prepared for him on December 19. 1861 ; that the commission was 
canceled March 21, 1862, by order of the Secretary of War, for the reason that it had not been 
accepted, although ample time for its acceptance had been given. Nothing has been found of 
record to show that the commission was ever issued, or to show what disposition was made of it, 
nor has it been found on file. In view of these facts it is presumed that the commission was 
never issued, but was retained in the War Department until March 21, 1862, when canceled, and 
that then it was destroyed. F. C. Ainsworth, The Adjutant General." 

[See letter of J. H. Lane to the Legislature, February 26, 1862, on page 226. 

CONTEST OF FRED P. STANTON IN UNITED STATES SENATE FOR SEAT 

OF JAS. H. LANE. 

The credentials of Frederick P. Stanton, who had been appointed by Governor Robinson to 
succeed James H. Lane as United States senator from Kansas, were presented to the senate by 
Senator Foot, of Vermont, on July 12, 1861, and referred to the judiciary committee. Among 
the papers presented in this contest were two printed statements of Mr. Stanton claiming that 
Mr. Lane, by accepting a military appointment and qualifying to the same as brigadier general, 
had forfeited his constitutional right to a seat in the United States senate. General Lane also 
presented a printed memorial. A consideration of the report of the committee, which favored 
the seating of Mr. Stanton, was deferred from time to time, and finally terminated in a vote ad- 
verse to the claims of Mr. Stanton on January 16. 1862. 

Proceedings in United States Senate, January 13, 1S62. 

" Presiding Officer : Mr. Stanton will be admitted to a seat on the floor during the pend- 
ency of this question, with the privilege of addressing the senate on the resolution before the 
body. The question before the senate is on the following resolutions, reported by the Committee 
on the Judiciary : ' Resolved, That James H. Lane is not entitled to a seat in this body.' ' Re- 
solved, That Frederick P. Stanton is entitled to a seat in this body.' " 

Mr. Clark, of New Hampshire, moved to strike out the word "not" in the first resolution, 
and during his remarks on the question made the following statements: 

"There is no doubt of the proper election of the sitting senator from Kansas in April last ; 
there is no doubt that he is entitled to hold his seat unless he has lost it by being appointed to and 
accepting the office of brigadier general in the volunteer forces of the United States while he 
was a member of the senate. . . . On the 20th of June, call it an appointment if you choose, 
he was appointed a brigadier general in the volunteer forces, and at or about that time he was 
sworn. On the next day. or the next day but one. he went to the commanding general, and 
being informed that he could not hold both offices, he said he would not hold the office of briga- 
dier. He went to the President and told him he would not hold the office of brigadier. He went 
to the Secretary of War and told him he would not hold the office of brigadier. . . . Hia 
statement on this point is undisputed by anybody; it can be attested by his colleague, who I un- 
derstand was with him when he went to the Secretary of War, when he went to General Scott, 
and when he went to the President, and declared to them all he could not hold the office. 

"He was appointed brigadier general, as they say, on the 20th of June; he resigned it about 
that time; but he did not come into the senate and accept the position of senator and be sworn 
and become a member of this body until the 4th day of July. That concludes the whole ques- 
tion. The constitution says he must have held the office while he was a member. He was not a 
member till he was sworn in. Before that time, if he held the office at all, he had resigned it. 

" He took no oath as brigadier general of the volunteer forces. I mention it to show the ir- 
regularity with which this whole thing went on. The President wrote a note to the Secretary 
of War that 'we had better appoint' him. The Secretary of War thereupon notified him that 
he had been appointed brigadier general, and transmitted to him a form of oath which happened 
to be that for a brigadier of the army. Lane took it to 'put it through,' went to a justice of the 
peace, and subscribed it. That was all he did subscribe, and he then published an address to the 
people of Kansas. 

■ Now, the point I make, Mr. President, is, that there was no such intelligible, well-considered 
acceptance of that office as ought for a moment to bind him; and that is all there is about it. so 
far as the oath is concerned. But they say he acted as brigadier. I do not know that he so acted, 
except it may be in taking the oath. I contend that if there are two sources of power on which 
his acts could be based, he is at liberty himself to say on which he did act. There was this ap- 
pointment of him as brigadier general of volunteer forces; and at or about the same time he re- 
ceived from the Secretary of War an order to raise troops in Kansas. When he got that order 
he at once published his proclamation. The proclamation purports to have been published on 



12 Kansas State Historical Society. 

the 26th of June. You might infer that it was written on the 26th of June, and therefore you 
might say that James H. Lane is not true when he says that he resigned his commission the day 
after he took that oath, or about that time. If he acted as brigadier on the 26th of June, how ia 
it that he resigned his commission, if he had one, on the 22d? Why, this was the state of facts: 
"When he got his appointment he determined at once to issue his address. He wrote his address 
the very day he got that pretended appointment. He gave it to Mr. Weer. I think, who was here, 
to carry it to Kansas and pubhsh it in the papers, before he had concluded to resign and give up 
the office of brigadier. Mr. Weer took the address. I suppose Mr. Lane had then taken the oath 
of office; I do not know how that was, but Mr. Weer, at any rate, took the address and appoint- 
ment, and he went to Kansas and caused that to be published in the papers in Kansas on the 26th 
of June, three or four days after Mr. Lane had determined not to accept the office, and without 
knowing that he had refused to accept it. That accounts for all that; but it makes very signifi- 
cant another fact. James H. Lane, the senator, says he never signed that address as brigadier. 
They do not say that he did. . . . But they say further that he made requisitions for clothing 
for the troops, and gave orders for mustering his brigade. I know it very well; but in that he 
did not act as brigadier; he acted under an entirely different authority from the War Department. 
It was given to him at the same time that this pretended appointment was given him. In a letter 
dated June 20, 1861, addressed to "Gen. James H. Lane,' the Secretary of War says: 'This de- 
partment will accept two regiments for three years, or during the war, in addition to the three 
regiments the department has already accepted from the governor of Kansas, to be raised and 
organized by you in Kansas. ' 

" Here was a distinct order from the War Department for him to raise these two additional 
regiments. He went on to raise them, under this order of the Secretary of War ; he did not 
raise them as brigadier general, because, if that was the idea, why was the order given'.' Now. 
I ask. if you are going to turn from the senate all those gentlemen who have been raising troops, 
what becomes of my friend the senator from New York [Mr. Harris], who. I believe, has raised 
three regiments? If Lane loses a seat for two, he ought to lose a seat and a half."— Congres- 
fional Globe. 37th Cong., 2d .sess., pp. 291, 293. 

"' January 15, 1862. Mr. Lane, of Kansas, spoke in the senate in his own behalf : 

" When I left here after the adjournment of Congress at the special session [August 6, 1861], 
I passed through Indianapolis, and the governor of my native state of Indiana presented me with 
a commission as brigadier general. I had not, then, however, determined to take the command 
of any troops. 

" When I reached Kansas I found there a condition of things which appealed to me. I put 
the case to any senator upon this floor. Kansas was about being invaded by the army of Price, 
over 10,CK)0 strong. I have been at the head of the armies of the people of Kansas for five years. 
That people looked to me ; and I say that if I had not gone to the scene of action, even as a 
private, I should not have discharged my duty to that state. There was no officer of the govern- 
ment there beyond a colonel. The forces of Kansas were scattered ; I called them to defend 
their own firesides. They came, and of the troops that I commanded those that were unorgan- 
ized numbered three to one. They were the people. Unorganized, they came to defend their 
homes. As the courser falls into the ranks of the passing column, so did I fall into the ranks of 
that army in my usual place ; the people acquiescent and I willing. Look at the orders and 
proclamations issued from that army. How are they signed ? ' J. H. Lane, commanding Kansas 
brigade.' Not as brigadier general, either under state authority or under the appointment of 
the general government. The moment that Price was driven beyond our border, the moment 
the danger to Kansas ceased, that moment did I lay down the command given to me by that 
people."— Congressional Globe, 37th Cong., 2d Sess, p. 341. 

"Executive Mansion, 
Washington, February 10. 1862. 
'Major General Hunter and Brigadier General Lane, Leavenworth, Kan : 

"My wish has been and is to avail the government of the services of both General Hunter 
and General Lane, and, so far as possible, to personally oblige both. General Hunter is the 
senior officer and must command when they serve together; though in so far as he can, consist- 
ently with the public service and his own honor, oblige General Lane, he will also oblige me. If 
they cannot come to an amicable understanding. General Lane must report to General Hunter 
for duty, according to the rules, or decline the service. A. "Lincoln." 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 1, vol. 9. p. 551.] 

LETTER OF GENERAL LANE TO THE LEGISLATURE. 

"Leavenworth. Kan., February 26, 1862. 

"Sir— There should be a perfect understanding between you. the local representatives of 
the people of Kansas and your representatives in the national Congress. To this end I make the 
following statement: 

"On the 20th of January I left Washington, expecting to take command of a column designed 
to move in four separate bodies through this state southward. 

"It was understood by the senate and expected by the country that a satisfactory arrange- 
ment would be made with Major General Hunter. Such was my conviction. 

"I came to Kansas, therefore, intending to arrange matters with him; to resign my seat in 
the senate to you from whom I had received it, and to notify the President of the acceptance of 
the commission of brigadier general, which was not to isBue until the receipt of such notification. 

" I made every efi"ort which self-respect would permit to effect this arrangement with Major 
General Hunter. I failed. The correspondence when published will prove, indeed, that I could 
not have served under him in any capacity, however subordinate, without degradation. ITIT! 

"I had no military ambition beyond that connected with this expedition. I desire to surround 
the institution of slavery with free territory, and thus girdle the cause of the rebellion itself. 
Without fault on my part, as I believe, I have been thwarted in this, the cherished hope of my 
life._ 

" The sad yet simple duty only remains to announce to you. and through you to the people 
of Kansas, my purpose to return to my seat in the United States senate— a purpose declare d to 
the President through a telegram, of which the following is a copy:„__ iMH^'^Jl^ 

"'Leavenworth. Kan.. February 16, 1862. ""5 

" 'All efforts to harmonize with MajoriGeneral Hunter have failed. I am compelled to decline 

the brigadiership. J. H. Lane.' _^ 



The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 13 

•' I have nothing further to say. I trust you will find me, as ever, faithful to the state and 
country All I am and all I have shall now, as heretofore, be devoted to them. , ■ j 

"Wishing you health, happiness and a safe return to your constituents, I remain your triend 
and servant, J- H- Lane. 

[Leavenworth Daily Conservative, February 28, 1862.] 

"War Department, Washington City, July 22, 1862. 
" Hon. James H. Lane. Kansas : . , j t. ^i. c. i e wr^^ ^^r^ 

"Sir - You are hereby notified that you have been appointed by the Secretary of War com- 
missioner of recruiting in the department of Kansas. You are requested to Pr°pefd forthwith 
to raise and organize one or more brigades of volunteer infantry, to be mustered into the service 
of the United States for three years, or during the war. For this p«rpose full authority is 
hereby conferred upon you to establish camps and provide for the maintenance of discipline and 
the supply of the troops with munitions of war. On your requisition the commanding general ot 
the department will issue supplies of arms and accouterments clothing, camp equipage and 
subsistence ; transportation for recruits and recruiting officers will be furnished on your requisi- 
tion or refunded on vouchers in the usual form, accompanied by your order directing the move- 
ment. It is recommended that the provisions of General Orders No. 75, current series, be fol- 
lowed as far as possible in organizing companies, to the end that muster rolls may be uniform 
and authentic. This is necessary in order to secure justice to the soldier and to prevent con- 
fusion in accounts and loss to the government. In performing these duties you are authorized 
to visit such places within the department of Kansas as may be necessary, for which Purpose 
transportation will be furnished you by the commanding general upon your requisition or the 
cost of the same will be reimbursed by the Secretary of War from the army con tmgent fund. 
You will be expected to report frequently to this department the progress and prospects of the 
work, and to make any suggestion that may occur to you from time to time as useful in faciMat- 
ing its accomplishment. This appointment may be revoked at the pleasure of the Secretary of 
War. By order of the Secretary of War. C P, Buckingham „ 

Brigadier General and Assistant Adjutant General. 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 2, p. 959.] 

August 4, 1862, Capt. Jas. M. Williams, company F, Fifth Kansas cavalry, and Capt. H. C, 
Seaman, were appointed by J. H. Lane recruiting commissioners for the Purpose «* «;Cru^tmg 
colored regiments. January 13, 1863, a battalion of six companies recruited by the abov€, officers 
was mustered into the United States service by Lieutenant Sabin of the regular army May 2, 
1863, the other four companies were organized, and the First Kansas Colored completed. Mili- 
tary History Kansas Regiments, p. 246. 

"Leavenworth, August 5, 1862. 
(Received 6:10 P. M., 6th.) 

"Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War : Recruiting opens up beautifully. Good for 
four regiments of whites and two of blacks. General Blunt leaves immediately to assume com- 
mand of troops in Indian country. I am to protect his -ar^with^my recrmts^^^^^^.^^^^., 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 2, pp. 294, 295.] 

"Leavenworth, Kan., August 6, 1862. 
"Hon E M. Stanton: I am receiving negroes under the late act of Congress Is there any 
objection? Answer by telegraph. Soon have an army. Commissioner of Rec^iSkng." 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 2., p. 311.] 

" ToPEKA, Kan., August 20, 1862-4 p. m. 
( Via Leavenworth. Received 8:40 p. M.) 
"Hon. E. M. Stanton: General Lane is recruiting a regiment of colored men in Kansas Shall 
I commission the officers? Has a draft been made on this state? C. KOBINSON. 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 2, p. 417.] 

" War Department, Washington City, D. C. August 21. 1862. 

SSTff{offlcr,o. who™ application ha, b..„ ™ade_^.nd ^^XZ'lTrl^. ^K" °° 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 2, p. 431. J 

"War Department, 
Washington City, D. C. August 23, 1862. 

"Gen James H. Lane, Commissioner of Recruiting. Leavenworth. Kan.: 

•• c,R_Tt has given me much satisfaction to be advised by your letter of the 18th inst. that 
the oSects of your commfs^on are advancing beyond your expectations In regard, however, 
to that portion of your communication which contemplates the raising of two regiments of per- 
sons of African descent you are informed that regiments of persons of African descent can 
onVv be raised upon express and special authority of the President. He has.not given authority 
?o raise such ti oops tn Kansas, and it is not comprehended in the authority issued to you. Such 

regiments cannot be accepted into the service. ,,,^„„nf 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant. ^w„„.. 

Edwin M. Stanton. Stcretarv of War. 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3. vol. 2. p. 445.] 

"Leavenworth. September 22, 1862. 
"""'"sfR-itteaSy requested that Major Hunt may be ordered to pay the one month's ad- 
vance to the three new -gimentsjn A.^s state without de^ay. ^^^^.^^.^^^^ of Recruiting.'' 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 2. p. 577.] 



14 Kansas State Historical Society. 

" Washington, D. C, September 23. 1862. 7:35 p. m. 
"Hon. J. H. Lane, Leavenworth, Kan.: You are not authorized to organize Indians, nor any 
but loyal white men. Funds to pay the regiments will be forwarded as soon as the money can be 
had from the treasury. Edwin M. Stanton." 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion. S. 3, vol. 2, p. 582.] 

"Headquarters Department of the Missouri, 

St. Louis, Mo., September 29, 1862. 
^'General Loan, Jefferson City, Mo.: 

"General— Your letter of the 26th, inclosing one from Colonel Thompson of the 192, relat- 
ing to Lane and Jennison and their threatened raid on Missouri, is received. 

" I will send one of my staff officers to Leavenworth to ascertain the facts. Lane's move- 
ments are often much exaggerated, and for that reason the rebels are very much afraid of him. 
So far as they are concerned a reign of terror is the proper check to them, and it would be well 
to make them understand they will have no sympathy at your hands. If he will pitch in at Cow- 
skin Prairie, he will not be likely to go amiss. I am told it is not much better about Independ- 
ence. We have got to fight the devil with fire. We are not likely to use one negro where the 
rebels have used a thousand. When I left Arkansas they were still enrolling negroes to fortify 
the rebellion. You think Lane and Jennison should be sent to a 'safe place.' I think it will be 
safe to send them against the rebels and Indians that are now collected and invading McDonald, 
Barry and Stone counties. But let terror reign among the rebels. It will be better to have them 
under such power than loose to carry on this guerrilla warfare, which drives good people out of 
Jackson and Lafayette. Samuel R. Curtis. Major General Commanding." 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 1, vol. 13, p. 688.] 

"Maj. Gen. H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief: "St. Louis. Mo.. October 7, 1862. 

"Gen. J. H. Lane, of Kansas, has raised three regiments. He has a commission for a briga- 
dier general from Indiana. Can 1 detail and give him a temporary command?* Blunt recom- 
mends it and favors it. He would help scare the rebels in southwest Missouri and Arkansas 
very much. Samuel R. Curtis, Major General." 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 1, vol. 13. p. 715.] 

"War Department, Adjutant General's Office, 
"Special Orders, No. 2.55. Washington, June 8, 1863. 

"38. . . . The order by letter from the War Department of July 22. 1862, under which 
Hon. J. H. Lane was appointed commissioner for recruiting. Department of Kansas, with power 
to raise troops, is at his request hereby vacated and annulled. 

E. D. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant General. 
" By order of the Secretary of War. 

"To the governor of Kansas." [Mss. in collection of Historical Society.] 

In a letter of Guilford Dudley, adjutant general of Kansas, dated Topeka, July 25. 1863, to 
the provost marshal general, Washington, relative to the quota of troops furnished by Kansas, 
he states that in spite of the general orders of the adjutant general's office, Nos. 18 and 75 (Feb- 
ruary 21 and July 8. 1862). assigning to governors of states the duty of raising and control of 
regiments until their muster, and the commissioning of officers, an exception had been made in 
the case of Kansas, and a recruiting commission given to J. H. Lane. 

"The authority so given being exclusive and original, the usual regulations governing the 
recruiting service were relaxed, and neither descriptive papers, muster-in rolls, nor reports of 
any character were filed in this department. Three regiments were thus organized during the 
latter part of the summer of 1862, by Hon. J. H Lane, under the authority of the War Depart- 
ment. These regiments were numbered, respectively, the Eleventh. Twelfth, and Thirteenth. 
Although neither of these were reported to this department at the time of their organization, 
the muster-in rolls of the f' leventh and Twelfth (except company A) have recently been received. 
The Thirteenth has never forwarded its rolls."— Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 3, vol. 
3, p. 568. 

"Fort Leavenworth, July 22, 1864. 

"General Rosecrans : After full consultation with General Blunt and other military men I 
have become satisfied that Missouri is in imminent peril of devastation. Ten thousand rebels 
are in course of concentration on the border and should be met by prompt action in calling out 
the loyal men of Missouri and arming them for the field. J. H. Lane." 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 1. vol. 41. pt. II. p. 333.] 

LANE IN THE PRICE RAID. 

" Fort Leavenworth, October 11. 1864. 

"Hon. James H. Lane. Lawrence: Colonel Walker is the man to command the Sixteenth in 
the field. The regiment will move down to Olathe soon, and I will see what can be done. The 
following is part of.General Orders No. 55 : ' Hon. James H. Lane having tendered his services 
to the major general commanding, they arc accepted and he is assigned to duty as volunteer 
aide-de-camp." 

"I shall go to Olathe soon, today or to-morrow. Try to urge forward militia to that point. 
Latest news from St. Louis is that fighting was going on near Jefferson City. I have sent out 
troops to open the telegraph line beyond Independence to-day. Troops turning out rapidly 
everywhere, but not going forward fast enough. S. R. Curtis, Major Central." 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 1, vol. 41, pt. III. p. 793.] 

• "Answer, if any. not found." 



The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 15 

Mai Gen Samuel R. Curtis, in his report of the Price raid ( published in the Official Records 
of the War of the Rebellion, vol.41, series 1, pt. 1) makes frequent mention of the service ot 
Gen. James H. Lane. About October 13. 1864, he had moved his headquarters to Wyandotte 
"Here Senators Lane and Pomeroy had both joined me as volunteer aides, and I found both ot 
these men of great service in giving correct intelligence to the wavering public mind and in 
suppressing false impressions " ( pp. 472. 473 ) . Mentions Lane s service at Lexington ( p. 475) . 
At the battleof the Little Blue, Lane " took an active and prominent part in the conflict and dis- 
played much coolness and gallantry under the fire of the enemy (pp.478, 525). At the battle 
of the Big Blue " Lane's experience in former campaigns in Mexico and upon the Kansas border 
enabled him to be of much service in the field everywhere ( pp. 484, 526) I" battle of West- 
port (p 491). Battle of Marais des Cygnes : " During that night (October 24-25) Generals Pleas- 
anton Lane and myself traveled most of the time between the divisions, but at early dawn we 
went forward and saw most of the conflict. We also joined the advance movement in the tim- 
ber " ( p 495 ). Lane very active in the field during the battle of the Osage. October 25, which 
occupied thirty minutes, and deserves special commendation, and is mentioned first among 
others for "unceasing toil and extraordinary gallantry" (pp. 496. 501) At battle of Chariot. 
October 25. Curtis met General Lane, who had been sent back for reenforcements. earnest in 
his efforts to hurry forward the First division, which was considerably m the rear at the same 
time expressing his apprehension as to McNeil's ability to hold his ground until more forces 
co^fd be brought up "(pp. 502.503). The names of Lane and Pomeroy. acting aides-de-camp, 
appear on cfneraf Curfe's " Roll of Honor" in P^-e's raid ( p. 520) October 27 James H^ 
Lane was relieved from further duty as volunteer aide-de-camp ( p. 528), General Blunt also 
acknowledges obligations to Lane for valuable services rendered durmg Price s raid ( p. 579 ) In 
the same volume, page 548. is found an interview between Lieut. George T. Robinson Eleventh 
Kansas chief engineer, and Gen. William S. Rosecrans, commanding Department of Missouri. 
Who had come to!Le aid of Curtis, and was then. October 24. at Little Santa Fe. After express- 
ing general dissatisfaction with General Curtis's management of the campaign, he sad to Lieu- 
tenant Robinson : " I understand, sir. that Jim Lane is runnmg this border ruffian mstitution. 
and actually in command of the whole machine." . ■ i ^ 4.i,„ f...^„t or„l 

Robinson- "I told General Rosecrans that General Lane was certainly at the front and 
doing his duty as a common soldier, as were many other Kansas men, but as to his having com- 
mand of any portion of the troops it was not so." , , ^i i,. „„;v,l„ 
General R said: "Oh. yes, I understand the whole thing, sir. much better than you possibly 
can do; I understand and know Jim Lane thoroughly." 

"Fort Scott. October 28, 1864. 
"General Davies- Four o'clock yesterday I left Lamar, our army well closed up. Price mov- 
ing on Bowers' sMflls ahead of ours, and Blunt pushing and will pursue to the Arkansas r.^^^^^^ 
wi^h force enough to crush him. Every step taken gives evidence that Price s army is^demoral- 
ized and starving. 

"Fort Scott, October 29, 1864. 
"Hon E M. Stanton: Rosecrans and Pleasanton are escorting Marmaduke and Cabell to 
Saint Louis Curtis and Blunt are pursuing Price with about 4000 men. Can th^V not be rem- 
forced? om i 

[Official Records War of the Rebellion, S. 1, vol. 41, pt. IV. pp. 302, 319.J 

Fort Scott at that time was a village. There were probably in the town 
about 300 people, composed of court officers, clerks, deputy marshals, land- 
office employees, and those few people who were here to furnish supplies to 
the permanent inhabitants and to the soldiers. There were a great many more 
people in Fort Scott, but they were soldiers. The real population was about 
300 Under the national administration, of course, all these court and land- 
office employees were Democrats; and the great majority of them were 
Southern pro-slavery Democrats. Lane naturally hated them, and, hating 
them it was easy for him to hate Fort Scott.' Because of his hatred he de- 
cided' to abandon and destroy the town . The site had been selected and a 

Note 7 -"Since the election on 2Tst December, this town has seemed to be watched by Lane 

inmycustody."-FromMss. of E. Ransom before quoted. . ■ * 

••The oeoDle [after the Marais des Cygnes massacre. May 19. 1858,] felt much incensed a^amst 



16 Kansas State Histo^-ical Society. 

fort located there in 1842 as a base to protect the border from the Indians, 
and the man who selected the site thoroupfhly knew his business, for, for 
military purposes, it is the finest strategic point in southeastern Kansas. It 
was the ideal spot for Lane to make his stand. But when Gen. Sterling 
Price was moving along the western border of Missouri, making dashes into 
Kansas, and on both sides of the line harrowing the Union people. Lane 
made up his mind to get even with Fort Scott, and issued an order to build 
Fort Lincoln^ on the Osage river a few miles west of where Fulton now is, 
a spot entirely unfitted for a fortification. He also included in his order a 

rants for the arrest of Geo. W. Clarke and others. Receiving the reply that the United States 
district judge. Joseph Williams, would not issue the warrants, he said he would make the arresta 
upon warrants issued by a justice of the peace, although it would not be strictly legal. Clarke 
was arrested on a warrant issued by a justice of the peace on Sunday, May 30. His friends de- 
manded the arrest of Montgomery, and upon the advice of Capt. Nathaniel Lyon, then stationed 
in that vicinity, he was also arrested. Walker then left with Montgomery for Lecompton for 
trial, but was overtaken by a courier at Raysville announcing that Judge Williams had released 
Clarke. This action so angered Walker that he turned Montgomery loose." — Robley's History of 
Bourbon County. 1894. pp. 112-114. 

"November 10. 1858. — A letter from Osage, in the Leavenworth ./owrna^ says: 'Geo. W. 
Clarke, a pet in the land office at Fort Scott, was the real cause of all the troubles in that region, 
and a company of dragoons had to be stationed there to protect him from the merited vengeance 
of an outraged people.' He says Clarke 'in the summer of 1856 plundered, robbed and burned 
out of house and home nearly every free-state settler in Linn county, while his hands were 
steeped in innocent blood, and the light of burning buildings marked his course.' "— D. W. Wil- 
der, Annals. 1886, p. 243. 

"George A. Crawford arrived in Kansas by steamboat, landing at Leavenworth in the spring 
of 1857. While at Lawrence, en route to Lecompton, he encountered a party going to Fort Scott 
to secure the town site, and at once accepted an offer of partnership in the town project. Fort 
Scott was then an abandoned military post, whose buildings were occupied by pioneers. Messrs. 
Crawford. Eddy and their associates purchased claims to 520 acres of land and organized the 
Fort Scott Town Company, of which Mr. Crawford was elected president, serving in that ca- 
pacity nearly twenty years. The deed to every original lot in the tovyn bears his name. He or- 
ganized a hotel company, purchasing a proslavery and making it a 'Free-state hotel,' by which 
name it was known far and wide. During the years 1857 to 1860. the violence and anarchy which 
had previously characterized the more northern portions of the territory were transferred to the 
region of Fort Scott. The town was in constant danger of destruction during these troubles. 
Mr. Crawford was opposed to the agitation kept up by the contending forces and invoked peace, 
and desired to settle all questions of the past by securing immigration. The proslavery men who 
were being driven out took refuge in Fort Scott and formed an organization. Mr. Crawford's 
opposition to their plans provoked a long series of attempted assassinations. Failing in these 
they gave him notice to leave the town within twenty-four hours or he should be killed. His 
answer was. 'I don't exchange messages with horse thieves.' Mr. Crawford was in the room 
with John H. Little, ex-deputy United States marshal, when, December 16, 1S58, a raid was made 
on Fort Scott by James Montgomery in rescue of Benjamin Rice, who was held as a prisoner by 
United States Deputy MarshalCampbell." — Extract from biographical sketch of George A. Craw- 
ford, Grand Junction (Colo.) Star, January 29, 1891. 

Note 8. — April, 1861, the Civil War broke out, and Kansas was as patriotic as the balance of 
the North. A company of 108 was raised at Fort Scott for three months' service by C. W. Blair, 
who was made captain. Blair and some of his company were the same year mustered into the 
Second Kansas for three years. " During the summer of 1861, and by September 1, some 3000 
troops, more or less, collected here at Fort Scott. What troops were here then were under the 
command of Gen. Jim Lane, who ran things in rather a loose way. In the summer of 1861. Jim 
Lane had built a fort on the north side of the Osage river, and named it Fort Lincoln. It was 
built on low bottom land that was no more a fit place for a fort than where Knapp's park is now 
located. This fort consisted of a stockade and a large blockhouse. In later years this stockade 
and blockhouse were moved to Fort Scott and located about the junction of Lowman and Firs 
streets."— G. W. Goodlander's Memoirs and Collections of the Early Days of Fort Scott, page 66f 

" The proximity of war in Missouri led J. H. Lane who was posing as Brigadier General of 
Volunteers, in command of Kansas troops, to fortify Fort Lincoln, on the Osage river. The 
work done there, in a military or common sense view, was simply idiotic. He went down on the 
very lowest bottom land of the river, where he threw up an earthwork about the size of a calf 
pen and then blazoned it forth as a great military fortification. 

"In the latter part of August [1861] a considerable force was being concentrated at Fort 
Scott. Old Jim Montgomery had by this time gotten a regiment together, and five companies of 
the Third Kansas under him arrived on the 20th of August. Other Kansas troops arrived from 
time to time until the aggregate force was about 2000 men. Fort Scott was now headquarters 
for General Lane's brigade. 

"The rebel generals. Price and Raines, were operating in western Missouri with several 
thousand men, and contemplated an attack on southeastern Kansas. On the 1st of September 
General Raines with his division approached within twelve miles of Fort Scott, on the southeast, 
and a scouting party came within two miles of town and captured a corral full of mules and 
drove in Lane's pickets. A force of 500 cavalr.v, with one twelve-pound howitzer, was sent out 
next (lay to reconnoiter. They ran into the rebel pickets and drove them across Drywood creek, 
where they were reinforced, and quite a rattling good skirmish was fought until the ammunition 
of the Union forces gave out, when they fell back in good order on Fort Scott. The odicial re- 



The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 17 

direction that Fort Scott should be burned if Price made a movement toward 
the town. 9 

Nearly everybody in Fort Scott was moved, though a few of the people 
refused to go. Mrs. E. A. Smith, who lived in a little native lumber cabin 
where now is First street and Scott avenue, just under my office window, 
her brother in the frontier guards, announced, "I will just stay here and 
see who burns my house." And she did stay. A few other women did the 
same. Fortunately for Fort Scott, and fortunately for the honor of the 
Union arms, Lieut. Col. Lewis R. Jewell, of the Sixth, was the man who 
received the order to burn the town. He was left there with one or two 
companies and he sent back by the aide who brought the order a perfectly 
respectful response, acknowledging receipt of the order; and he added, in 
words which indicate the kind of man he was, "When General Price begins 
his occupancy of the city, then your order will be obeyed." 

Price's army was about Deerfield, in Vernon county, Missouri, some ten 
miles away, and he sent 500 troops over to attack Fort Scott. Jewell gath- 
ered up everybody who could carry a gun, and all the arms in Fort Scott, 

ports give the Union loss in this action as five killed and twelve wounded. The rebel loss was 
about the same. In the meantime the infantry force occupied the heights east and southeast of 
town. 

"The entire force waited on the crest of the hill until night for the expected attack of 
General Raines. About dark a raging thunder storm came up. 

"That night General Lane ordered the entire force to fall back on Fort Lincoln, twelve miles 
north, on the Osage, leaving Fort Scott to the mercy of anybody that might come along. . . . 
General Raines was at that moment making a forced march on Lexington, Mo., by an order that 
day received from General Price." — Robley's History of Bourbon County, 1894, p. 169. 

"Wilder says that Lane fortified Camp Lincoln August 17, 1861. Britton claims that Lane 
was satisfied, on the evening of September 2, that the rebel forces would attempt to take Fort 
Scott the next morning, and, believing that his own force was insufficient to repel them, ordered 
the abandonment of the town and withdrawal of his troops to Camp Lincoln."— Britton's Civil 
War on the Border, 1891, p. 129. 

Note 9. — "I was a young boy when I came to Fort Scott with my father. Dr. A. G. Osbun, 
and settled on the farm where I still live, near the military bridge just across the Marmaton, 
east of Fort Scott. I was here in 1861 when General Price was on the border, and General Lane 
built Fort Lincoln on the Osage and ordered that on the approach of Price's army, or any part of 
it, Fort Scott should be burned. I never saw the older, but I know it was issued because it was 
common talk among all the people about the post. All the families except three or four women 
left Fort Scott, and they refused to go. John Caldwell (he now lives in Drywood) and myself 
went up to Dayton. "--C. H. Osbun, April 1. 1910. 

"I was commissary sergeant here at the time Lane issued his order that when Price's army 
appeared Fort Scott should be abandoned, fired and burned; but I never saw the order, yet it 
was common talk among the officers and men that the town was to be destroyed. I had charge 
of the commissary stores, and issued rations from the government stores. I followed the troops 
to Fort Lincoln, where they had been ordered, all except Colonel Jewell, who had been left in 
command. I was here before the war, during the war, and helped to organize one of the com- 
panies of the Sixth Kansas, in which I was second lieutenant, and afterwards organized the 
company for the Fourteenth Kansas of which I was captain, and have lived here almost continu- 
ously ever since.— A. H. Campbell, March 25, 1910." 

"I was in Fort Scott when General Price came by. General Lane issued an order to remove 
all families to Fort Lincoln, and the government stores. The greater part of the stores were re- 
moved. All the families were moved who would go. Mrs. General Blair and myself were re- 
moved by a military squad by force. Mrs. Colonel Wilson and Mrs. E. A. Smith were the only 
women who did not leave. Mrs. Blair was intensely indignant, as she had a babe in arms only 
two weeks old, but she was forced to get into the ambulance and go. My husband. Captain 
Haynes, was detailed with his company and another, I forget what company, to carry out the 
order to burn the town and the balance of the stores when Price's army came in sight. 1 saw 
all the orders, and saw that one. The town was not burned. There is no question about the 
order. Everybody understood it. I was acquainted with all the commanding officers, and there 
can be no doubt about the order."- Mrs. J. H. Haynes. March 24, 1910. 

"I came here in the fall of 18.58, and have lived here since excepting from 1886 to 1898. and 
1901. I was here at the time of Price's raid in 1861. and Jim Lane had command here. At that 
time he vacated the town and moved to Fort Lincoln, all except one or two companies, expecting 
Price to make a raid on the town. It was the general impression of everybody left here that he 
had issued an order that if Price made his appearance to burn the town, and he stationed a 
picket at each house with a torch to set fire to the houses. I never saw the written order, but it 
was generally understood by all that were left here that that order had been given." — E. L. 
Marble, March 28, 1910. 

" My name is Patrick Gorman. I live on my farm near Fulton, Kan., and have been a resi- 
dent of this county continuously since 1858. I was fourth corporal of company A, Sixth Kansas 



18 Kansas State Historical Society. 

from the latest improved rifle to the single-barreled muzzle-loading shotgun 
and the muzzle-loading pistol, and stayed in Fort Scott. He went down to 
Buck Run, the little stream that divides the town, and cut cottonwood logs 
and hewed and painted them to represent cannon and mounted them over 
the breastworks built along the west side of Buck Run, fronting east, so 
that when Price's detachment came to the high ridge east of town he could 
see with the field glass a serried array of a half mile of vicious looking can- 
non. When Price approached the town he went out and met him. The for- 
midable army that Jewell had quickly gotten together of old men and boys 
and cripples and possibly women, and the savage look of the fortifications, 
did its work and the Confederate soldiers withdrew. 

This disobedience by Jewell of the order given by Brigadier General (?) 
Lane saved the city of Fort Scott from being burned, and is only one of the 
many things that could be told about his nerve and prompt action in emer- 
gency. 

Jewell's connection with the Sixth was brief, for he joined the regiment 
at the first organization, in September, 1861, and was mustered out by 
Shelby's volley at Cane Hill on November 28, 1862. While he was with the 
regiment, however, he was very busy. Up to his death at Cane Hill, he 
and First Major Wm. T. Campbell, and Second Major Wyllis C. Ransom, were 
nearly always away on some sort of expedition, preserving the peace along the 
border. After Jewell's death Major Campbell succeeded him, and from that 
to the end of the war practically handled the Sixth Kansas cavalry, Wyllis 
C. Ransom being a close second in his services for the regiment. A. H. 
Campbell, the son of Wm. T., was the second lieutenant in company H, and 
afterward became a captain in the Fourteenth Kansas regiment. With 
many rare exceptions the officers were the kind of men I have described 
before, ready to do anything and dare anything that was necessary, and 
equally worshiped and as readily followed by their soldiers. 

The regiment, being divided up as I have described, took part in a great 
number of battles of more or less moment. It made a good record at Grand 
River, taking a sortie around by Fort Gibson, then swung over into northern 
Arkansas, Newtonia was one of the places where it did good work. While 
in the Territory it captured the capital of the Cherokee Nation.'" This tribe 

cavalry, and was present in and about Fort Scott when General Price passed along the Missouri 
border. At that time Gen. James H. Lane ordered the removal of all of the families from Fort 
Scott, and the removal of all of the property to Fort Lincoln on the Osage, which he had estab- 
lished there. The families and household goods were all removed, except that one or two com- 
panies were left here in Fort Scott with orders that when Price's army or any portion of it 
appeared in sight, the town must be fired and the rest of the troops should retire to Fort 
Lincoln. The women all left with the exception of two or three, who refused to go. I never saw 
the written order issued by General Lane, but I know that it was issued, and I know that the 
families were removed, and I know that preparations were made to carry out the order of burn- 
ing the town. It was a matter of common understanding among all of us, and while I never ac- 
tually saw the order. I am positive it was issued." 

Note 10. — Among the papers of Col. R. J. Hinton in the Historical Society's collections is a 
copy of a portion of a letter written by Albert Pike to John Ross, dated Seminole Agency. Au- 
gust 1, 186L in which Pike refers to his letter of June 6. 1861, to Ross renewing his propositions 
for a treaty of alliance between the Cherokee Nation and the Confederate states. The paper is 
indorsed in Colonel Hinton's handwriting as captured by him in the Territory in 1864. The fol- 
lowing extracts refer to the purchase of the Cherokee neutral lands by the Confederacy : 

"I was empowered to pledge the Confederate states, in case of the loss from any cause of 
the so-called 'neutral lands,' between Kansas and Missouri, to the payment of the purchase 
money. $.500,000. paid for it by the Cherokees, with interest from the time of purchase in 1835. 

"I wish only, as you have declined to enter into any arrangement whatever with the Con- 
federate states, even for the purpose of maintaining a real neutrality, now and for all future 
time to exclude the conclusion that the Confederate states will ever hereafter feel themselves 
bound to pay the Cherokee people the purchase money of the 800.000 acres of land lying between 
Kansas and Missouri, That was offered by me as one of the terms of an alliance, offensive and 



The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. Id 

of Indians was about equally divided between the Confederate and the Union 
sides. When the capital was captured the Sixth seized all of the records of 
that division of the Cherokees. These records have great historical value, 
and are now in the archives at Washington. The battle of Prairie Grove 
was another place where it contributed its share— a bloody, vicious battle, 
in which charges were made and repulsed, and assaults made on each side, 
and then again made. 

A PLEASANT SPOT. 

Lieutenant Campbell, of the Sixth, tells a story that shows one of the 
bright spots in the life of a soldier. When they were at Rhea's Mills he was 
officer of the day, and he found a couple of Confederate prisoners in the mill. 
They told him that they were awfully hungry, and he sent at once to the 
commissary and had a good meal furnished them. He has now forgotten 
what command they were with. Subsequently, at the battle of Cane Hill, 
Campbell was taken as a prisoner to a town farther down in Arkansas, 
where he was at once given the liberty of the town on parole, but was not 
returned to his command. He wondered at it, for no one else was paroled. 
Shortly after he was turned loose an old gray-headed man approached him 
and asked if he was being pretty well treated. He reported that he was 
pretty well treated, but that he was hungry, and being on parole had no 
place to sleep. The old man told him that if he would come with him he 
would furnish him a place to sleep and something to eat. He walked up the 
street with him to a fine old Southern mansion, and was taken into a room 
which was evidently the guest chamber, with a splendid four-poster bed, 
and everything around the room indicating comfortable ease. They had him 
sit at the table with the family, and treated him as an honored guest. That 
evening he noticed some little commotion around the place, and inquiry gave 
him the news that the great guerrilla chieftain Quantrill was coming into 
town that night. He came. Quantrill was a little deity among those people. 
When Campbell came to the house that night to go to bed he found a man 
lying on a pallet on the floor. He was a little bit inclined to have a spell 
of brain storm when the man rolled over and started to talk, and informed 
him that he was Quantrill. They talked together about their experiences 
and had a very pleasant evening, but it was a shock to Campbell. He won- 
dered why the old man did not put Quantrill into the bed instead of on the 
floor. Before morning Quantrill was gone again. A week or so afterward 

defensive, which, being rejected, the proposition is now withdrawn forever. It is not possible 
that any obligation can now or ever rest on the Confederate states to pay this large sum. In elect- 
ing to remain nominally neutral, and really in alliance with the Northern states, you will have 
elected also to look to them for the price of that land, of which they have already plundered you. 
If the Confederate states ever pay any part of its value, they will only pay to those of your peo- 
ple who have declared themselves the friends of the South their share and proportion of that 
value." 

"In the Cherokee Nation there were two parties— one in favor of an immediate alliance with 
the Confederate states, the other, headed by John Ross, declaring in favor of neutrality. Ross, 
as principal chief, had issued a proclamation (May 17, 1861) admonishing his people to remain 
neutral, and in this position he was backed by a majority of the Cherokee people. 

"In August a general convention of the Cherokee people was called by John Ross as princi- 
pal chief, for the purpose of considering the advisability of entering into an alliance with the 
Confederate states. This convention (August 21, 1861 ), after due deliberation, declared in favor 
of an alliance with the Confederate states, but the formal treaty to that effect was not signed 
unti|_ October 7. 1861. 

"John Ross, who had long been the principal chief of the Cherokees, addressed the assembly 
in a statement giving the purpose of its deliberations, but very carefully avoided any word that 
would commit himself. When it was voted to enter into a treaty of alliance with the Confeder- 
ate States, Ross, as principal chief, signed the treaty, but he afterwards repudiated that action 
and renewed his friendly intercourse with the Federal government." — History of Oklahoma by 
Joseph B. Thoburn and Isaac M. Holcomb. 1908, pp. 78, 79. 



20 Kansas State Historical Society. 

he old man asked him if he thought it strange that he should be taken into 
his house, "a damned Yankee" as he expressed it, and treated that way. 
Campbell confessed that his guess was right. Then the old man told him 
that one of those prisoners he had had at Rhea's Mills was his son, and the 
young fellow, when Campbell was brought a prisoner, had taken his father 
around and pointed Campbell out to him, and told him the story, but did not 
speak to Campbell himself. 

General Sherman's statement that "War is hell" is undoubtedly true, 
but there are some little kindly spots in it after all. 

CANE HILL. 11 

But the event of the Sixth was the battle of Cane Hill, with a descrip- 
tion of which my story ends; for this is more a sketch of Colonel Jewell 
than a detailed history of his regiment. It was a little battle, but larger 
than we want to see again. 

On November 28, 1862, General Blunt was at Boonsborough (now Cane 
Hill), in Washington county, northern Arkansas, with about 5000 Union 
troops, including several Kansas commands. Marmaduke was there with 
about 7000 or 8000 Confederates. Lines were formed just north of Boons- 
borough, but there was no battle— a little firing, that was all. 

Running out of a spur of the Boston mountains, just over the ridge east 
of Boonsborough, is a little brook, of swift-running spring water, ten to 
twenty feet wide. Cove creek, running southward. Its valley is a ravine, 
only a few rods wide, about like a city street, with the Van Buren-Fayette- 
ville wagon road running along the right side of the stream— that is, the 
west side— with bluffs on each side. Cove creek gives the name for the 
battle used in the Confederate archives. 

The Confederate troops were moving south down the road toward Van 
Buren. They were going, you observe. 

Blunt ordered Colonel Cloud, of the Tenth Kansas, to follow the Van 
Buren road and assault the Confederate troops down Cove creek. He 
changed his mind and directed Colonel Jewell to make the assault. Jewell 
asked the privilege. The little valley was so narrow that Jewell concluded 
that more than three companies would be a burden and in the way of each 
other. Colonel Judson being absent, Jewell was in command. He had his 
men in line and made a speech to them. Speeches to the file were common 
in the West. He told them that he had a very dangerous expedition before 
them, with the chances against them. He reminded them that Marmaduke 
and Shelby had somewhere about 7000 men. He would order no man to go. 
He wanted volunteers. He got them. 

Up to this time in the story of the assault it would seem that this pro- 
posed attack was a piece of foolhardiness— a charge of a battalion against 
several regiments ! But if the plans had been carried out the chances are 
that even then it would have succeeded. Colonel Cloud was ordered by 
Blunt, with the Tenth Kansas, to go to a lower pass, just a short distance, 
and cross over the narrow ridge. At the proper time he was to throw his 

Note 11.— "Cane Hill is a ridge of perhaps eight miles in length and five miles in width, in 
the southwestern part of Washington county, Arkansas, just beyond the north base of the Boston 
mountains. Three villages are built upon it (Russellville, Boonsborough and Newburg), which 
almost blend with each other, covering a distance, as the road to Fayetteville runs, of three or 
five miles."— Official Records. War of the Rebellion. Series 1, vol. 22, pt. I, p. 13!). Accounts of 
the action at Cane Hill, Arkansas, November 28, 1862, may be found in Britten's Civil War on the 
Border. 1891. chap. 29; Military History of Kansas Regiments, p. 81; Official Records. War of the 
Rebellion. S. 1. vol. 22, pt. 1, pp. 41-59. 



The Sixth Kansas Cavalry. 



21 




22 Kansas State Historical Society. 

force down off the ridge on Shelby's flank into the open space. This was 
all understood by the officers. When every company of the Sixth promptly 
stepped forward and volunteered to go with Jewell, and three were selected, 
his own old company in the number, everything was ready. 

Jewell and his little band of "rough riders" made a dash over into the 
valley. The dash was so vigorous and sudden that the rear of the retiring 
forces moving down the creek gave way, and Jewell went with such impetu- 
ous haste that he actually got to the cannon of a rebel battery which was 
stationed in such a way that it would sweep quite a portion of the gulch, 
before it had time to load and fire. Jewell took the battery and went on. 
The little party, with Jewell a rod or two ahead of the front, went down 
that gulch like very devils, with Jewell in advance of every man in the bat- 
talion, roaring like a bull and swinging his saber and calling to his men to 
come on. They swung down around the gulch, occasionally sabering a man 
off his horse. When they got to the throat of the valley at the lower pass 
over the Boston mountains, they expected to hear the guns of Colonel Cloud's 
regiment. Fully expecting it, and being confident, they dashed on, because 
it was Jewell's idea, and the thought of every individual soldier, that the 
way to fight that part of the battle was to fight it with a rush and a whirl. 
I say they all "thought." There was not a machine soldier in the regi- 
ment. They all thought. But to their surprise they heard no guns on the 
flank. What could it mean? Notwithstanding this, having faith in the 
good work which Cloud was known to be able to do, they kept on. Cloud 
was a soldier, they depended on him. Up to this time the assaulting party 
had slight injury, because Jewell's battalion had gone so much like a whirl- 
wind that the Confederate rear had little chance to do any fighting. Swing- 
ing on down the gulch, on the heels of the retreating foe, they turned a 
corner, and were suddenly face to face, just a few rods off, with about 3000 
of Marmaduke's Confederates, with Fighting Jo Shelby and his cavalry 
protecting the rear. Still no sound from Cloud ! Colonel Cloud, according 
to the arrangement, moved his men southward and started to climb across 
the ridge. He was carrying out the order and was actually just going over 
the brow of the ridge when a courier came dashing up with an order from 
General Blunt not to complete Ihe flank charge, but to withdraw; this with- 
out any previous warning to Jewell so that he could protect himself. Why 
this was done will probably always remain a mystery. 

Jewell's men until they got to this point had received very little punish- 
ment. They were well mounted, and had succeeded in dashing over the 
ground faster than the rebels could get out of their way. Every man was 
yelling like a fiend. In the last rush Lieut. A. H. Campbell was riding a 
very fine and strong horse. One of the Confederates had his horse shot 
from under him, and a comrade stopped to let him mount behind him, prob- 
ably his brother. This delayed the two men so that they were actually in 
the vortex of the cyclone. Campbell made a dash after them, and as he got 
beside the horse he drew his revolver and attempted to fire into the back of 
the rear man. He snapped the revolver two or three times, and then dis- 
covered that it was not loaded. In his excitement he had emptied his 
revolver and not recharged it. His horse with free rein dashed on. On ac- 
count of this effort he had passed Jewell. This was the only time that any 
Union soldier was ever ahead of Jewell in a charge. Jewell was swinging 



The Sixth Ka7isas Cavalry. 2o 

his saber and filling the air with his voice in his yells to his men to come on. 
He said to Campbell, "That 's right, lieutenant, go ahead ! " The last words 
he ever spoke before he received his death wound. 

The withdrawal of Colonel Cloud's flank attack was not the worst of it. 
Lieut. Col. A. V. Reiff, of the Confederates, whose written story I have, 
had arranged an ambuscade by order of General Cabell, at the narrowest 
part of the gulch, near where Cloud was to attack. The steep slopes were 
alive with hidden soldiers. 

Just at the instant of Jewell's approach, the Confederates who were 
drawn up in line of battle at very close range and well prepared, fired a vol- 
ley that was horrible. At the same time the lead rained from the ambus- 
cade above. Campbell's horse was shot from under him and he was thrown 
to the ground a long distance away. In his own words, "I think I was 
breathing splinters and dirt for half an hour." A young oak as big as a 
stove pipe, a few feet to one side, was clipped by a shot, just as you snip 
off a sunflower with your whip. The same volley did awful execution on the 
whole little band. One shot hit Jewell's horse and another at the same in- 
stant hit him in the breast. He fell off and the horse rolled kicking and 
plunging into the little stream. Then, without any support, of course they 
had to retreat, every instant agonizingly wondering what was the matter 
with Cloud. 

Why somebody didn't pay dearly for the murder of Lewis R. Jewell is 
past finding out. 

After this volley, of course, any further advance was useless. They 
were forced back. They could have been forced back with clubs by such an 
overpowering force. Quoting Confederate Lieutenant Colonel Reiff, "the 
valley gorged like sheep passing a narrow gate. ' ' Reiff and his men fired into 
the mass as they struggled to get away, but could not, as the valley was 
full. They were taken prisoners, some of them held for many months. 

General Jo Shelby was really in command of the body of men protecting 
the rear against whom the assault was made. He described that scene to 
me just a short time before his death. After his experience through all 
the border troubles on the Kansas-Missouri line in the late '50's, Shelby 
was competent to judge. He was a soldier all over. He said that was the 
fiercest sortie he had ever seen on the field, and that the leader of it was 
the bravest man he ever met in battle. Shelby was a dignified, cultured, 
and scholarly gentleman. He was probably the first man to get to Colonel 
Jewell after he fell off his horse, and the incident is characteristic of both 
of the men. Shelby saw the straps on Colonel Jewell's shoulders and imme- 
diately dismounted. Shelby knew what deference he owed to a soldier, al- 
though a foe. I don't think he knew him, but simply recognized him as a 
lieutenant colonel. Seeing that he was badly wounded, he said, "Colonel, 
is there anything I can do for you?" It was intensely interesting to hear 
Shelby describe the incident, better than I can. He said that Jewell with- 
out a whimper, without any apparent anxiety in his voice or manner, raised 
on his elbow and said, "Yes, General, you can get me a cup of water." 
Shelby got him a canteen of water and then said, "Colonel, isn't there 
something else I can do for you?" Jewell said, "Oh, no, no, no. All you 
can do for me I guess, is to send one of your aides to General Blunt and tell 
him that I am disabled." Observe the quiet, cool nerve of the man. He 
didn't say he was killed, although he knew he was. 



_.t Kansas State Historical Society. 

And so they took him. He was turned over to the Union command, and 
died on the 30th, two days afterward. His body was carried to Fort Scott 
and interred in the national cemetery and afterward reinterred at Arcadia, 
his old home, where his descendants keep his memory green. 

HOW HE DIED. 

I do not like to quote, but here is a description which I cannot avoid. 
When majestic old Olaf Gulmar, the Jarl, the descendant of the Scandinavian 
Vikings, was at his death, after a rigid, stormy life, he ordered his servitor 
Valdemar Svensen to carry him to the deck of his favorite boat, the Valkyre, 
set it on fire and cut the moorings. It was done. As a seaward wind and 
an ebbing tide carried the sloop from the northernmost point of Norway 
toward the pole, in a mass of flame and the roar of the storm, Corelli de- 
scribes him in his death rhapsody: 

" 'Hark ! ' he cried, and his voice vibrated with deep and mellow clear- 
ness. ' Hark to the thunder of the galloping hoofs ! See ! See ! The 
glitter of the shield and spear ! ' He raised his arms as though in ecstacy. 
' Glory ! Joy ! Victory ! ' 

"And like a noble tree struck down by lightning, he fell— dead." 

So died Lewis R. Jewell, of the Sixth Kansas cavalry. 



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